


say my name (say it with purpose)

by Semoka



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Angst, Beetlejuice Needs a Hug, Family Fluff, Fluff, Found Family, Multi, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-09-23 20:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20346325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Semoka/pseuds/Semoka
Summary: Six months after the musical, Beetlejuice accidentally gets summoned back to the Deetz/Maitland household. All hell breaks loose when they discover he can't leave. Nothing could be worse than this, right?Well, just wait until Beetlejuice catches feelings for the ghost golden couple.





	1. It's Showtime

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever multi-chapter fic and it's beetlejuice, of course.
> 
> This first chapter is a short little thing to start us off!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's queer, hes' weird, he can't get out of here.

It was Saturday night in the Deetz/Maitland household, which meant one thing and one thing only. The best/worst night of the week. The most chaos-filled event in the family. 

_Family Fun Night._

"Step-Mom! Have you seen my telescope?!" Lydia yelled from the living room. 

"Next to the microwave, Lydia!"   
  
"Why is it _there?_" Lydia asked herself, scrunching up her nose. She quickly moved to the kitchen with arms full of astronomy books and yep - exactly where Delia said it would be. With her now found mini-telescope, she ran up the stairs and down the hall. She climbed through the window and onto the roof where her family was waiting, careful not to drop anything. 

"You're late, girlie!" Barbara teased from where she was laying down blankets. 

Lydia rolls her eyes and crosses over to put the books down next to where Adam is setting up the gramophone. "Not all of us can walk through walls, Barbara!" She calls back. Charles takes the telescope from her to get it set up properly on the newly-installed railing. 

"Alright gang, do you want Harry Belafonte or Elvis Presley?" Adam asks, holding up both albums. The vote is unanimous for Belafonte and soon enough the Maitlands plus Delia are laying back on the blankets talking quietly while Charles and Lydia are huddled over the telescope. 

"Daddy, look at this one!" Lydia tugs on her dad sleeve, pulling him to look. "That's Mars!" 

Charles smiles softly as he looks through the telescope. "Good find, sweetheart." He praises, ruffling her hair. She scrunches up her nose as she fixes it and lets out a small noise of annoyance. He grins, then moves the telescope to a new location.

"What about that one, Lydia?" Charles asks. Lydia leans closer and closes an eye to look through it herself. She holds up the book, trying to match the image to the sky. After a moment, she grins.   
  
"That one's called..." She pauses for dramatic effect, then raises her voice to be heard above the gramophone. "Betelgeuse!" 

It's Delia that reacts first, flinching violently and snapping her head around. "Beetlejuice?!"

Charles reacts next, pulling away from Lydia to look at her in shock. "Beetlejuice?!"

Time seems to slow down as everyone registers what just transpired. Their jaws all drop. On the edge of the roof, smoke rises. Just a small stream at first, then a large explosion of a cloud. Charles grabs Lydia in his arms, pulling her away from the railings quickly.   
  
The smoke dissipates, and in its place is the one thing they never thought they'd have to see again.

_"It's showtime!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning about 15 chapters for this thing, so make sure to comment if you want more! I always reply~ (Kudos are also v appreciated!)
> 
> Check me out on Tumblr @semoka!
> 
> also thank you to the beetlejuice discord for showing me i'm not alone in my obsession with these guys ;3


	2. A Warm Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ghost-With-The-Most is greeted with closed arms and a revelation is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the fam seems very mean here, but I promise they're all just in shock! People lash out when they're confused and Beetlejuice is a very confusing demon.

_"It's showtime!"_

The smoke cleared and there, sat on the railing, was the ghost with the most, the born-dead demon himself. Beetlejuice. When he sees who summoned him, his smile grows impossibly wider.

"Babes! I thought I'd told you I was on a soul searching adventure!" Beetlejuice hops of the railing, holding his arms out wide. "Did you miss me that much?"

"As if!" Lydia defends, but the grin on her face betrays her. In truth, she _had _missed him. He might have forced her into a marriage, sure. And she might have killed him, sure. But he also stood up to his mom and ate her with a sandworm for her. Besides, even though her dad and she got along better now, nothing had been as fun as those three days alone in the house scaring anyone who dared come past.

"Jesus, you're worse than my mother." Beetlejuice leaned forward to boop her nose, only for his hand to be slapped away by Charles before it could touch her. 

"You stay away from her!" Charles yelled and pulled Lydia closer. Beetlejuice's smile faltered just slightly, but he turned his attention to the Maitlands instead.

"Babs! Adam! The golden couple! I gotta tell ya, you guys are legends in the Netherworld right now." He popped up behind them, wrapping his arms around their shoulders much to their discomfort. "Two ghosts who still have each other _and_ are hanging with breathers?" He gestured to the Deetz family. Delia looked like she was about to faint while Lydia had started to struggle against her dad's bear hug. 

Adam pinched Beetlejuice's sleeve between his fingers, moving his arm up and off of him. "While I'm sure I speak for Barbara and I both when I say we're grateful for the Deetz family and what they've done for us, I can assure you that we did not _ask_ to not go to the Netherworld. May I remind you that you tricked us into staying here?" He poked Beetlejuice in the chest then quickly wiped his finger off on his pants. 

Beetlejuice's hair started to sink from green to purple, flashing as Barbara slips out from under him as well. "That's not even beginning to mention the fact that you tricked Lydia into almost _exorcising _me!" She reminds him of angrily.

"Well, fine then!" Beetlejuice pouted overdramatically. "I guess I didn't miss you guys either!" He pointed at Lydia. "Except for you, babes." Thumbs-up. "You're cool." Lydia escaped her father's protective grasp and sent him finger guns. 

"You're cool too, Beej." 

"Lydia!" Delia scolded as she recovered from the shock. "Don't encourage it!"   
  
"I will have you know that my pronouns are he-slash-him, thank you." Beetlejuice corrected, pointing to a pronoun pin that suddenly appeared on his lapel. "And _he_ can see that he's not wanted by his so-called friends!" He hopped back up onto the railing and crossed his arms dramatically over his chest. "Goodbye, cruel world!" He announced, then let himself fall back over the side.   
  
Everyone let out matching shouts of alarm and ran to the side of the roof. They looked down and saw- nothing? 

From above, a noise started. Quiet, then louder, as if coming closer. The five on the roof turned in synchronization and watched as Beetlejuice fell through the sky. His scream got louder and louder and he got closer and closer until _BAM! _The roof shook with the weight of a fully grown demon slamming into it. His whole body flattened like something out of a cartoon and he let out a groan.

"...Beetlejuice?" Barbara asked, cautiously.

The demon raised a paper-thin arm off the ground and gave a thumbs-up. Lydia rushed forward to help as he peeled himself off the ground limb by limb. He stuck a thumb in his mouth then blew hard to push himself back to a 3D form, knocking her over. A pillow quickly appeared under her head without Beetlejuice even moving. "So apparently," He started, then paused to let out a deep sigh of feigned frustration. "I can't leave." 

Delia made a noise straight out of a soap opera then promptly fainted into Charles' arms.

Beetlejuice scrunched up his nose. "What? Was it something I said?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ratman can't leave? This can't possibly go wrong! Find out next time on - say my name!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Lydia and Beetlejuice are best friends(nothing! more!) and you won't change my mind.


	3. Rules Were Made To Be Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House rules are established under heavy whining from our resident demon. He's determined to be a good houseguest, however.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, oops! Life gets in the way sometimes. 
> 
> To be honest, I wanted to give up for a second. Nothing I wrote was coming out good. Your comments kept me coming back to the chapter and rewriting what I didn't like instead of throwing it away. Every time I got an email saying I had a new comment, I read it and looked at the fanfic and wrote what I could. You guys are the life force behind this. (Sidenote: i got so many comments I can't reply to them all like I said I would, so please consider this your reply and my promise to get better at that <3)
> 
> TW FOR AMBIGUOUS ABUSE

An hour later, everyone minus Delia and Charles sat around the dining room table in tense silence. No one seemed to be the first one to speak. Even Beetlejuice was quiet for once, but this seemed to be more out of social etiquette confusion than anything else.

Charles emerged from his and Delia's bedroom, straightening out his tie. "Alright. What have you discussed so far?" He asked.

Seemingly given permission to talk, Beetlejuice couldn't hold it anymore. "Abso-fuckin-lutely nothing! Seriously, they've all just been sitting here looking at each other! I didn't want to say anything but it has been boring as hell, Chuckles. Trust me, I've been there." He word-vomited. 

Charles sunk heavily into his seat. "I think we'd better start with some house rules, seeing how you're going to be staying here until we can find a way to get you out." He leveled Beetlejuice with a look. "And we _will _be getting you out." 

"Rules-shmules!" Beetlejuice whined. He didn't respond to the leaving part but Lydia noticed a single streak of purple hair.   
  
"You haven't even heard them yet, BJ." Lydia pointed out. 

"Rules always stink, babes." He retorted. "It's always something like 'Don't set the office plants on fire.' or 'No dying your hair in the bathroom when you know it doesn't work,' or 'Hugs are off-limits because no one wants to hug you anyway..." He trailed off, then waved the thought away. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is: rules are meant to be broken." 

"Well, while I can't say the first two aren't a bad start," Charles began, uncomfortable with the sudden emotional statement. "How can you break the rules if there aren't any rules to begin with, hm? With accepting the consequences, of course." He quickly added. 

There's a moment of thought where everyone waits for the demon to either lash out or agree. Luckily, Beetlejuice brightened. "Chuckles, my man, that is a perfectly valid point!" He leaned forward making gimme motions. "C'mon, Daddy, lay them on me." 

Barabra made a face. Adam put his head in his hands. Lydia kicked the demon under the table. Charles sighed.

_This was gonna be a long discussion. _

_\----_

After a healthy amount of debating, objections, whining, and coercing, the Deetz/Maitland household had convinced their demon roommate to agree to a reasonable set of house rules - including a few 'Do Not Break Under Any Circumstances' ones. Despite his early protests, Beetlejuice seemed eager to prove to them that he could be a good houseguest. When they left the table for bed they left satisfied with the discussion and more confident in the calmness of their future. 

"Lydia!" Beetlejuice staged whispered as he followed her to her bedroom. He'd be sleeping on an old twin mattress the Maitlands helpfully moved onto the floor of Lydia's room. "Lyds!" He tried again.

"Oh, I forgot, do you need something to sleep in?" Lydia asked as they entered the room. She closed the door behind them and crossed to her dresser. "I think I have some really big t-shirts I stole from my dad."

"As much as I'd love to wear Chuckie's clothes," He started, "I was actually thinking about what order we're going to break the rules in. I was thinking of starting with touching Delia's artwork because that can easily be disguised as interest and then we move on to more risky stuff like leaving the stove on with a candle next to it or giving the couch a mouth and *then*-"   
  
"No, Beetlejuice!" Lydia cut him off. "Weren't you listening to everyone? If you want to stay here then you have to do what they say!" 

"Uh, we were part of the same conversation, babes? I'm here whether you want me to be or not. I can't leave. At all. Not even _un poco._" He snapped and a floating newsreel appeared around him. "No fake news here, folks! You heard it first on Fox News."   
  
"Ugh!" Lydia waved her hand through the reel and pushed it away. "Don't you see! If you prove to Adam, Barabra, Dad, and Delia that you can follow the rules, then maybe they'll let you stay forever! You could live with us!" She exclaimed.

"Who said I wanted to live with you?" The demon defended. Lydia leveled him with a look and his bravado crumbled. "Yeah, alright, you got me there."   
  
"So?"  
  
"So I'll follow the stupid rules." 

"Excellent! Now, get out."  
  
"What?! You just said I could stay!"   
  
"Get out of the room for a minute, you dork. I have to change into pajamas!"  
  
"Or I could just do this!"   
  
"Put your eyes back in your head! Gross!"

\--

It didn't take long for the demon to get bored in the night. A snack sounded in order and he would obtain one. Beetlejuice tiptoed carefully down the stairs as to not wake anyone up. As he went he found himself listing off the rules under his breath - or at least the ones he deemed important enough to actually follow. Most important at the moment - don't make loud noises between 11pm and 6am.

He got so focused on not making any noise in the early hours of the house that he forgot to pay attention to where he was going. Socks on wood don't mix. His foot slipped out underneath him and down he went thumping. Each stair hitting his back thundered in the quiet house and his shout of alarm echoed off the walls. 

He hit the ground and let out a quiet groan of pain. He is pretty sure his back is bruised, and his thumb made a cracking noise when he attempted to grab for the banister. 

Doors open above him and footsteps pound down the hallway. "Beetlejuice, you menace! It's been less than four hours!" Charles's voice boomed.

_Lawrence, you idiot, can't you do one thing I ask?_

He groaned again for a different reason.

"Beetlejuice!" Lydia's voice cried out in panic at seeing him on the ground. "Dad, I think he's hurt!"

_Oh, you're going to act like I hurt you now?_

"Adam, honey, fetch a first aid kit. Lydia, can you get me a glass of water for him?" Barabra, the classic mother figure. 

_It's just a bloody nose, quit crying._

"He's probably faking it." Charles, what a pleasure to have your opinion.

_I'll give you something real to cry about._

Beetlejuice let out a broken sound, using all of his willpower to try and take him away from the situation. He could hear Barabara coming down the stairs and all he could think was _Don't let her touch you don't let her help you don't let her see you don'tdon'tdon't._

Right as her hand touched his bruised back, he disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our first dose of real angst! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry again for it taking so long. Let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning about 15 chapters for this thing, so make sure to comment if you want more! Comments literally saved this fanfic! (Kudos are also v appreciated!)
> 
> Check me out on Tumblr @semoka!! It's the fastest way to get to me!
> 
> also thank you to the beetlejuice discord for showing me i'm not alone in my obsession with these guys ;3


End file.
